Firesteel

Our education system should be empowering students to achieve their dreams, but for Black students, schools can instead create inequities that block their success. One of the major ways this occurs is through the school-to-prison pipeline.

Here in Washington, we fight to expand the right to vote, not suppress it. That’s why we’ve been one of the leading states in the nation on voting by mail. But we still have work to do, as the right to vote is withheld from the 10,000 people in our state who are out on community supervision following their jail sentence. 

Medical racism is the systematic and wide-spread racism against people of color within the medical system. It includes both the racism in our society that makes Black people less healthy, the disparity in health coverage by race, and the biases held by healthcare workers against people of color in their care.

How can we build better communities where everyone is welcome and safe? We sat down with safe streets advocate and bus enthusiast Jazmine Smith to talk about how cities are designed in ways that are hostile to Black women.

YWCA is working hard to re-employ King County residents by providing relevant job training and placement services. The Economic Advancement team is striving to build equity in our community through a new program called Work$Ready.

Right now, one of the most important ways we can all keep our community healthy and safe is by staying home. However, systemic injustices that prevent someone from staying home safely reveal the broken systems and long-standing equity barriers in our society.